Question Number: 28035

Law 12 - Fouls and Misconduct 11/27/2013

Phil of Tarzana, CA United States asks...

Don't you think referee could have issued 2 yellows & a red (although he didn't)? He could have issued the first yellow for deliberate handling which broke up a tactical play (i.e. short of DOGSO). It then appears that the striker tried to get the ball (for a DFK), which the GK delayed (even if the striker overreacted). The GK could have gotten a second yellow & then a red.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Phil That is indeed a possibility. Provoking a confrontation by deliberately touching the ball after the referee has stopped play is a cautionable offence. However there are other factors to be considered here in this scenario which will delay the restart anyway1. The restart is on the whistle with a card issued which makes it ceremonial given where the DFK is from and lots of players around the location of the free kick.2. A player is on the ground injured Interestingly Gspurning is quoted to have said 'He was coming to me wanted to grab ball, but I held the ball and defended the ball in this case, of course," Gspurning said. "I don't know what was going on there. I didn't do anything, just protected the ball, and I think that's my right." Holding on to the ball is not his right as it is the opponents' free kick so it shows just how little players know of the Laws.

Answer provided by Referee Jason Wright

I didn't see what happened, but generally speaking it's definitely possible to issue a 'double caution'.

Another example would be if a player commits a reckless foul, then commits blatant dissent as you're about to caution him.

Considering the purpose of a card is to warn the player to change his behaviour (ie a yellow card is trying to keep the player on the park), I think you only want to do it in situations where you're really left without an option. I'd be extremely surprised if a referee at this level ever did it, but they tend to approach games a little differently to grassroots level.

Personally, I think a red card was the correct decision anyway as it looked like it was going in the goals and I don't think the attacker was going to reach the ball at the speed it was travelling at. That being how I saw it I see no possible case for a yellow - if the ball was going to miss and the attacker wasn't going to reach the ball, then no attack has been broken up.

If your view is that the attacker may have reached the ball then there's a case for a yellow - different people saw that scenario differently.

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